Featured Works

Crucible by Dan Rabarts in Wily Writers, June 25, 2011 Once, we trod upon the stars, fleeing the gods. Now, we are the gods. Parsing the heavens on wings of steel and light, we sank into eternal sleep, light years unwinding around us, morphing the constellations into new mythologies. With …

SpecFicNZ Spotlight

I was one of those kids who got really excited in primary school when the teacher asked us to write a story in class. I would turn in 20 page missives when other students were rushing to throw together any old collection of words. Even then, magic and fantasy was …

Bound by Alan Baxter – a review

Review: Bound by Alan Baxter

Review by Nix Whittaker

Super action packed well-written story. Easy to read but a little darker than I like my books. Not just that but the swearing and other stuff though realistic to the character’s situation is not my thing.

The story is of Alex Caine a street fighter who can see more than meets the eye. A stranger arrives at one of his fights and we basically fall into a quest/the one trope. I like these kinds of tropes so I thought I would enjoy the story more, especially since it was beautifully written. Unfortunately, I also like my stereotypical completely obvious stories to be peppered with more comedy. Also, I like a story that leans more to being able to pass the Bechdel test. I did like Silhouette. She was fun and witty. I’d recommend this book for male readers though and I admit I like my books geared towards either women or at least gender neutral. This reminded me of Ian Fleming. On the outside the main character looks bad ass and cool but the more you delve into the character you realise that he is shallow. I believe the author was aware of this issue and did try to alleviate this as Alex really doesn’t want to be that stereotypical bad ass.

I loved the world building. A rich canvas that is revealed to us slowly and with confidence. With characters that multidimensional and interesting. I loved the play with the idea of evil and good and where the line is drawn.

I loved the cover and that is a big with me. If I was recommending this book to guys I would give it a solid five but if I was recommending this to a woman I’d give it a barely 4 so I’m going to compromise and just call it 4.4

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BLURB: Alex Caine, a fighter by trade, is drawn into a world he never knew existed – a world he wishes he’d never found.

Alex Caine is a martial artist fighting in illegal cage matches. His powerful secret weapon is an unnatural vision that allows him to see his opponents’ moves before they know their intentions themselves. An enigmatic Englishman, Patrick Welby, approaches Alex after a fight and reveals, ‘I know your secret.’ Welby shows Alex how to unleash a breathtaking realm of magic and power, drawing him into a mind-bending adventure beyond his control. And control is something Alex values above all else… A cursed grimoire binds Alex to Uthentia, a chaotic Fey godling, who leads him towards chaos and murder, an urge Alex finds harder and harder to resist. Befriended by Silhouette, a monstrous Kin beauty, Alex sets out to recover the only things that will free him – the shards of the Darak. But that powerful stone also has the potential to unleash a catastrophe which could mean the end of the world as we know it.